Men's Soccer Drops SSC Finale To Panthers

Patrick Drmola gave the Bucs an early lead with his first career goal. Photo Joel Auerbach.

MELBOURNE, Fla.—The Barry Buccaneers dropped their final Sunshine State Conference men’s soccer game 2-1 to the Florida Tech Panthers at Rick Stottler Field on Saturday.

Barry (4-9-1, 1-6-1 SSC) jumped out in front in the eighth minute of the match, capitalizing on a sloppy Panthers turnover along the back line which a speedy Patrick Drmola was able to intercept. The Chelsea, England native picked up the first goal of his Buccaneer career, firing a strike past Panthers’ keeper Mitch Thorn to give Barry the 1-0 advantage.

The advantage was short-lived, however, as just eight minutes later Florida Tech answered with the equalizer. Antoine Aupiais found Ricky Menendez just outside of the 18-yard box, where he turned and slipped a shot past Fred Perez to even the match at 1-1.

The Panthers scored the winner in the 62nd minute after a Buccaneer defensive miscue. On a thrown in, Aupiais was left unmarked near the top of the box. He chested the ball down and ripped a shot into the back of the net.

The Bucs had a chance to tie the game in the 73rd minute. Drmola’s shot got past Thorn, but Will Henderson was there to knock it away.

The Bucs led 17-6 in shots, including 6-4 on goal. Thorn had four saves, while Perez made two for the Bucs.

Barry closes the regular season with a pair of SSC “+4” games next week, at Lynn on Wednesday and at home against Eckerd on Saturday.